Fisheries ended practice that could have saved whales: mayor

The Fisheries Department stopped a practice several years ago that could have prevented dozens of doomed beluga whales from being trapped by ice, Tuktoyaktuk's mayor says.

Between 100 and 200 whales were believed to have been trapped in the fallin the Husky Lakes astring of saltwater lakes and inlets east of theN.W.T. community by the freezing ofachannel that leads to the Beaufort Sea.

The whaleshave been taking turns breathing at the only remaining air hole as the lakes around them freeze solid. On Friday, Inuit hunters began to cull the pod after local officials concluded they couldn't be saved.

Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Jackie Jacobson said that, until four or five years ago, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans(DFO) used to help chase away the whales, which like to feed in thelakes during the summer.

"They'd have somebody manning that area to push away the whales when they started coming into the area," Jacobson told CBC News on Sunday.

It's believed about 200 belugas entered Husky Lakes in August through a 100-metre-wide channel. The whales usuallyhead back to the Arctic Ocean in the fallto join the migration to the Bering Sea.

However, the entrance is now only 50 metres wide and the whales are stuck in a small pool of water surrounded by ice, Jacobson said.

'It's probably a 30-foot-wide pool that has about 60 whales popping their heads up, trying to stay alive. It's not a pretty sight.' -Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Jackie Jacobson

"It's probably a 30-foot-wide pool that has about 60 whales popping their heads up, trying to stay alive. It's not a pretty sight," he said.

Jacobson addedthat a couple of his friends with ice-breaking experience couldn't get a boat big enough to free the animals.

The hunters and local officials decided that it would be more humane to kill and harvest the belugas than to let them suffer a long, slow death.

Several scientists with the Fisheries Departmentaccompaniedthe hunters to take samples from the whales to test for toxins and other contaminants.

The hunt could take up to two weeks.

Jacobson said none of the meat would be wasted, saying itwould be distributed to people in six to eight communities.